European Shooting Stars program at Berlinale showcases up-and-coming talent

Berlinale’s European Shooting Stars is a program that aims to promote up-and-coming actors in European cinema. U.K. film critic Jason Solomons says these rising stars are the key to the future of the industry.

Solomons sees one problem with “European and British cinema” as being “we don’t have stars,” a concept that has been long since embraced in Hollywood. In this way, European Shooting Stars helps give young talent the opportunity to forge a path onto the international film scene.

KCRW Berlin gets to know this year’s Shooting Stars, including Georgia’s Irakli Kvirikadze and Italian actress Matilda De Angelis. Kvirikadze recently moved to Los Angeles and when he’s not acting, he waits tables. De Angelis says even though being named one of the Shooting Stars doesn’t mean she has automatically “made it” in her acting career, she is hopeful: “maybe one day!”